Waterpipe (WP) smoking has spread worldwide and emerged as a global health issue in recent years. Yet only little is known on the details of transport phenomena and the compositions of smoke and particulates released during WP smoking. In this paper a general mathematical model is developed to study various processes occurring during the use of a WP. The model is used to assess the role of various design and operating conditions on the WP performance. In particular, the influence of water temperature, diameter of body pipe, depth of WP body immersed in the water, puff volume, water volume and puff frequency on the bubble hydrodynamics, the gaseous phase absorption and the removal of aerosols has been studied. Numerical results have indicated that the rate of gas absorption increases with the increase in depth of WP body immersed in the water, puff volume and the amount of water, and also with decrease in water temperature, diameter of body pipe and puff frequency. In addition, the removal of aerosols is improved with the increase in depth, radius and density of particles. The model results have also revealed that the major part of the pressure drop occurs in the water bowl. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.